House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was liberal.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as Conservative MP for Cariboo—Prince George (B.C.)

Won his last election, in 2011, with 56% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Petitions June 20th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise under the provisions of Standing Order 36 to present two petitions.

The first one is on behalf of my constituents in the Burns Lake area, over 900 of whom have signed petitions indicating their concern that the Canadian judicial system is not adequately maintaining law and order in the country and calling on the Government of Canada to reform the justice system in order to ensure greater protection of life and property within Canada.

Point Of Order June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, you said that you would be ruling on my previous point

of order at a later date. How can these bills be reported back to the House before we have heard the Chair's ruling?

Points Of Order June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I made it clear earlier that we had no objection to the presence of the hon. member for Yukon there and in fact participating in the debate. The point I raise in this point of order is the fact that she was not a legal voting member of that committee.

Even though the chief opposition whip had signed the proper notice with the clerk, the fact is the member for Yukon was not listed as an associate member and therefore-

Points Of Order June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I have listened to hon. members and the point is not that the hon. member was allowed to be present and participate in the committee. The point is that this was a clear breach of the rules, of the standing orders. The chairman was in complete breach of his responsibility as chairman by not recognizing the point of order I raised, which was a very clear point of order.

As I mentioned, we have no difficulty with the hon. member for Yukon being present. The difficulty we have which we raised in the committee meeting last night with the chairman was that by allowing her to vote the chair was in clear breach of the standing orders that govern the committee proceedings.

We ask, Mr. Speaker, that you rule on that point.

Points Of Order June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, yesterday during clause by clause consideration of Bill C-33 and Bill C-34 in the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development the member for Yukon was present and allowed to vote at the committee.

She was not a legal voting member according to Standing Order 114(2)(c). The standing order reads as follows:

At any time when no list has been filed with the clerk of the committee pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section or when no notice has been received by the clerk of the committee pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, the Chief Whip of any recognized party may effect substitutions by filing notice thereof with the clerk of the committee, having selected the substitutes from among all the Members of his or her party and/or the independent members listed as associate members-pursuant to Standing Order 104(4)-

The relevant phrase is: "the independent members listed as associate members". House of Commons records will indicate that the member for Yukon was not then and is not now an associate member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

Although a substitution form was filed by the chief opposition whip with the clerk naming her as a substitute, she did not meet the requirements as an independent under the standing orders in order to be a legitimate voting member. Yet the chairman of the committee allowed her to vote on more than one occasion.

Should you, Mr. Speaker, review the minutes of the committee meeting you will further note that I raised the matter as a point of order and it was dismissed by the chair. Even though the chair, the hon. member for Prince Albert-Churchill River, was made aware of this irregularity he continued to allow the member for Yukon to vote and participate as a member of the committee in good standing.

We are not questioning the presence of the hon. member for Yukon as the elected representative of Yukon. What we are questioning is the chair's primary responsibility to ensure that the committee operates under the rules established by the House of Commons.

I realize, Mr. Speaker, you rarely rule on proceedings in committee. However this is a clear breach of the standing orders. It is not a matter which can or should be left in the committee where it originated. The rules have been broken throughout the entire clause by clause consideration of Bill C-33 and Bill C-34. The report of the committee should be ruled out of order and the committee should be directed to go back and reconsider clause by clause Bills C-33 and Bill C-34.

The chairman of the aboriginal affairs committee whose role it is to uphold the rules of the committee knowingly allowed the rules to be broken. I suggest the chairman of the aboriginal affairs committee resign and allow another member to preside over clause by clause reconsideration of Bill C-33 and Bill C-34.

Pearson International Airport June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, a supplemental for the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Transport when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Transport on May 31 stated that Mr. Wright had no mandate to negotiate, but in fact he was simply accepting claims to be reviewed by claims analysts.

In light of this, will the Prime Minister tell Canadian taxpayers why we owe Mr. Wright over $66,000 plus expenses for simply collecting receipts?

Pearson International Airport June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

As members of this House know, on behalf of the government Mr. Bob Wright is currently accepting claims for compensation from the consortium affected by the cancellation of the Pearson airport development deal. Mr. Wright, a Liberal fund-raiser, friend and former law partner of the current Prime Minister is receiving $1,000 a day for this job.

Will the Prime Minister tell this House how this appointment fulfils the government's promise of governing with integrity?

Grand Rabbi Of Lubavitch June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today, somewhat belatedly but with no less sincerity, to pay tribute and to mourn the passing of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson who served as the Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch for four decades.

Rabbi Schneerson's devotion to his community and to society as a whole is demonstrated in his legacy of achievements which includes the establishment of drug rehabilitation centres, prisoner outreach programs, non-profit loan organizations, day schools and Education Day U.S.A. The world is a poorer place with the passing of Rabbi Schneerson.

I would ask all members of the House, and indeed all Canadians, to join with me in honouring the memory of the Rabbi and I would ask members to join with me in extending our deepest sympathies to the Lubavitch community at this most difficult time.

Pearson International Airport Agreements Act June 14th, 1994

Tory sleaze, yes. I thank the hon. member for helping me out in this presentation.

All we in the Reform Party are doing is asking that the government just do one more small thing to try and restore the confidence of the Canadian voters and that is to let the settling of this agreement, the cancelling of this agreement, the wrap-up of it become one small bit more transparent.

It is not our intention to hold this thing up for a length of time that would in fact cost millions of dollars as the hon. member opposite indicated. We simply want the government once it has determined if any, and I hope that there is none, claims are worthy to be considered for payment that it would simply present these claims either to the Standing Committee on Transport for examination by all three parties or to a special committee formed by the government, whatever the case. It would not entail a long period of time to get a recommendation from that committee.

This is not a huge order in the scope of this. This is just one more small step that the government can take to toward restoring the confidence of the voters and in fulfilling its election promise of transparency and openness in the way the government does business.

People have a lot of questions about the Pearson airport deal. They never want to see a deal like this again in this country. It is incumbent upon the government to consider laying all the facts before the public and the three parties in this House so that they can be examined in detail.

We are not asking for a huge delay, just one more small opportunity to open this up so that the public will be able to see in a timely fashion and not wait until the Auditor General makes a report next year because the voting public wants to see this openness happening now. They want to see examples of it on a daily basis. That is what this amendment would do.

It would actually help the government in power to get its message of openness across. I am surprised frankly that there is any opposition to this by the government. I urge those members to reconsider their position. Let us forget about partisan politics here and put the interests of the Canadian public first and foremost in everything we do. Let us do the right thing in this House.

Pearson International Airport Agreements Act June 14th, 1994

Sleaze, yes, Mr. Speaker, it was sleaze and no other word probably defines it.